Last year Kennedy suffered a broken right hand.

Just his luck. Two plays into the 2006 season, defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy
suffered a broken right hand.

He quickly got the hand casted up during the game and returned to finish out
the season-opening upset of Denver -- all of which earned plaudits from the
Rams' coaching staff.

"Here's a guy that broke his hand, and he came right back on the field,"
defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said at the time. "He wanted to play. ... So
I give credit to Jimmy for coming back out with the broken hand, and being in
pain, and going out and playing pretty well."

The next day, Kennedy had a couple of pins inserted to stabilize the fracture.
He would be in a cast for the next four to six weeks. Kennedy kept playing, but
the results were something short of spectacular.

"I forgot who I was," Kennedy said Sunday in Green Bay. "I forgot what got me
here, to tell you the truth. And it's not in a cocky way that I'm saying this.
Once I broke my hand, I started going backwards for a second. Playing with
pain, you start making excuses. I wasn't trying to make excuses, but I wasn't
really focused. I was focused on my hand when I was out there."

But against Green Bay, he forgot about the hand and just worried about playing
football. The result was Kennedy's best game of the

season. He recorded six tackles, matching his career high for a regular-season
contest. He forced a first-quarter fumble by Packers running back Vernand
Morency that set up the Rams' first touchdown.

If teammate Leonard Little hadn't swiped the ball away from Brett Favre in the
closing seconds of the game to save a 23-20 Rams victory, it looked like
Kennedy would have at least sacked Favre.

"I think Jimmy played very well," coach Scott Linehan said. "I saw him in the
backfield a couple times. He and I talked earlier in the week. He's got himself
at such a high standard on how he wants to play. He won't let it be an excuse,
but I know the hand has limited him in using his hands. So he decided just to
use his power and his ability to get up the field. I saw a new spark in him, I
thought, in this game."

Even though they were gouged for 106 yards rushing by the unheralded Noah
Herron, the Rams need that kind of spark on a weekly basis from Kennedy for the
defense to flourish.

After letting former starters Ryan Pickett and Damione Lewis sign elsewhere as
free agents during the offseason, the Rams were counting on Kennedy to man one
of the defensive tackle spots this season. There were no alternatives. And they
were counting on him to handle the nose tackle spot, which isn't his natural
position.

"We're talking about a guy who has played nose (five) games in his life and a
couple games in preseason," Haslett said. "He was a '3-technique' here
(previously), and in college."

The "3-technique" is more of a playmaking position, calling on the tackle to
shoot gaps and penetrate into the backfield. But after signing six-time Pro
Bowler La'Roi Glover in free agency to play that position, the Rams needed
Kennedy's size and bulk (6-4, 325) at the nose.

"It's totally different," Haslett said. "You've got to be a power player at
nose. You've got to be an anchor, and be a guy who can stop the run from tackle
to tackle."

The Rams hadn't seen much of that from Kennedy.

"Jimmy can do better," Haslett said after the Detroit game. "Jimmy's playing
like they were throwing the ball every snap. He was running around blocks on
every snap. He's really athletic. He's too athletic for his own good."

But Kennedy took a step in the right direction against Green Bay.

"He played his best game of the year," Haslett said. "He was very active. Did a
lot of good things. Rushed the quarterback well. ... He's starting to come
along and understand exactly what we want. I think he has a chance to be a
pretty good nose in the league."

By his own admission, Kennedy had a terrible week of practice leading up to the
Packers game. His talk with Linehan helped sort things out.

So he basically forgot about the hand. He took the cast off last Thursday in
practice and played with just a padded lineman's glove. Against the Packers, he
just used the glove, without extra padding.

"I didn't wrap it at all," Kennedy said. "When I'm out there, and I have the
cast on, I'm thinking about my hand. I'm thinking about not hitting it, and
it's an unconscious thing. Mentally, it was killing me. I just went out there
(against Green Bay), and put the glove on, and just played."

Re: Last year Kennedy suffered a broken right hand.

Originally Posted by txramsfan

Ok, so IF what they say is true, that it takes awhile for someone to play this position, then this is his year. Either excel or be expelled.

Actually.

NT is the one DT spot it DOESN'T take players a while to learn. Why? At NT you are rarely in many different kinds of situations. It's a simplified position in some respects---a specific set of responsibilities in a very narrow area. Over the years, it has been fairly common for rookies to play well at NT. As I keep saying the Giants's Cofield was a rookie starter last year. It's just not rare.

Kennedy is not an NT. It's not just that he isn't a good NT. He is no kind of NT at all. And if he had *anything* to bring to the position it would have been visible by now. He doesn't; it wasn't.

Re: Last year Kennedy suffered a broken right hand.

Re: Last year Kennedy suffered a broken right hand.

Ok how about this along with his hand. He also broke his foot his first year.
He has not had the best of luck when it come to staying healthy.

The 330-pound defensive tackle was hurt Aug. 5 during a non-contact one-on-one pass-rush drill against the Chicago Bears. The Rams and Bears are holding joint practices through Aug. 7. Kennedy was planting his foot to make a cut when he went down.

The injury was not initially believed to be serious, but an exam after practice revealed the break. Kennedy will have surgery next week for a fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot, the Rams said. He will be out three to four months.

Re: Last year Kennedy suffered a broken right hand.

Ok how about this along with his hand. He also broke his foot his first year. He has not had the best of luck when it come to staying healthy.

Maybe he does find himself.. maybe

Maybe indeed. Last year was the first season in his career he played in all 16 games and he had to do it with a hand held together by pins. To me that shows some heart, but heart alone isn't going to cut it. I really want to see Kennedy get a chance to perform completely healthy as a member of a reasonably injury free defensive unit. That said, Tx is 100% right, it's "put out or get out" for him, regardless of what position he plays, what injuries he might sustain and how those around him are performing. Excuses no longer apply.